Island Dreams:Caribbean Cl

"Columbus 'discovered' the Caribbean, not North America, and it was in the Caribbean that the Amerindians first felt the effects of European steel, gunpowder and (deadlier by far) microbes. The region became a pawn in the European struggle for empire and, later, a significant player in the developing Atlantic economy. Its economic importance rested on a substructure of African slavery, which provided labour for the numerous plantations across the region. However, slaves resisted slavery and, ultimately, the Abolitionist cause was carried successfully in the British parliament and gradually elsewhere." "Gad Heuman is an expert guide to this history, dwelling not only on the political and social struggles but providing also a sense of the development and flowering of Caribbean culture."--BOOK JACKET.

Gad J. Heuman is a Professor of History and has served as Director of the Centre for Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick.